Sussex-based Quad/Graphics Inc. has created an innovative, interactive mobile app that enhances reader experience and engagement with editorial and advertising content. The technology integrates print material with the real time capabilities of mobile devices.
Developed with technologies like image recognition and augmented reality, the actable interactive print technology enables users to more readily interact with content on their smartphones or iPads.
“It’s all about bringing the digital action that they already take closer to the reading experience,” said Matthew Kammerait, product manager for Interactive Print Solutions within Quad/Graphics.
It brings digital content directly to the page, Kammerait said.
For example, readers can use the app to view on-page videos and three dimensional images of products on their mobile devices.
According to Kammerait, the technology was created with an aim to build on the capabilities of print and combine the strengths of print and mobile mediums.
“We’ve found that both technologies have really distinct strengths, and they play very well off one another to create the best overall consumer experience,” Kammerait said.
Strengths include the relaxed opportunity that print provides users to consume content along with mobile’s up-to-the-minute, real time functionality.
Within the broader scope of merging these strengths, Quad/Graphics breaks down the user benefits into two categories. For one, the interactive print app accommodates users’ impulse decisions.
“We want to get out of the consumer’s way and make it really easy for them to do what they already want to do,” Kammerait said.
The app allows buttons like “buy” or “share” to be accessible directly on the page so that users can instantly make a purchase or share a piece of content with other users. Rather than having to turn to another piece of technology such as a laptop to accomplish a task like buying or sharing, users can complete the action with whatever device they’re already relying on.
The other primary benefit for users stems from creating more immersive experiences with the content. Kammerait said this immersive side to the technology extends the user’s engagement and holds their attention longer. In one example, the print app decomposed the cover of a publication and rebuilt it for smartphone and iPad users, a creative tactic meant to peak readers’ interest and make their experience more interactive in general.
The actable interactive print technology also consolidates new apps, Kammerait said.
“One thing we noticed in the marketplace is that it was exhausting for consumers to have to download an app every time a new technology or app came out, so we said, ‘Let’s put them together in one app that can be a universal app,” he said.
The app, which launched in January of 2011 after nearly two years of development, was conceived through an innovation process at Quad/Graphics called the “Quad Idea Catapult.” The Idea Catapult invites any of the company’s 22,000 employees to submit an idea related to the advancement of the company. Interactive Print Solutions, a service within Quad/Graphics’ media solutions division that specializes in content design and media development, translated the ideas into a reality.
The actable interactive print technology mostly serves the content of marketers and publishers. According to Kammerait, it has drawn about 60 clients predominantly in the United States. Quad/Graphics hopes to expand to international markets and has carried active conversations with companies in Latin America, South America and Europe.
Among the technology’s existing clients are Teen Vogue, Maxim and Milwaukee Magazine. Milwaukee Magazine is owned by Quad/Graphics.
Teen Vogue launched a mobile product called Teen Vogue Insider in June of this year that features an image-recognition tool powered by Quad/Graphics, according to Teen Vogue brand development director Stacy Greco.
“The app was created as a companion to the magazine reading experience and allows the reader to access more of what they want from Teen Vogue and our advertising partners in a way that was never possible before,” she said. “By making the pages interactive the magazine becomes a multi-media experience that can now deliver videos, lookbooks, prize incentives, and shopping deals straight into the hands of our readers who are constantly connected via their mobile devices.”
According to Greco, introducing this interactive component to the pages of Teen Vogue has transformed readers’ experiences from passive to active and made it more personal.
During the first two months of the product’s release, readers engaged in more than 200,000 page scans.
“Our audience expects and wants us accessible on mobile, and this technology allows us to take the magazine product they love and iterate new and exciting ways to produce content from a multi-media perspective,” Greco said.
According to Joel Quadracci, chairman, president and CEO of Quad/Graphics, the technology has propelled Quad/Graphics ahead of print competitors in terms of innovation.
“For years, we have been pioneering solutions that help our customers achieve their business goals,” Quadracci said. “We understand how to seamlessly integrate print with mobile technology to create a compelling call to action and drive response. We aren’t just printers. We’re technology integrators, and that puts us in a league of our own.”
Kammerait also cited the power of the technology in helping businesses connect what they’re trying to accomplish across channels in a more cohesive way. The app allows different office departments to collaborate in creating interactive, immersive experiences that go on top of the print page.
“I think the cohesion piece is the really important one,” Kammerait said. “It’s helping to break down the barriers and the silos that exist in organizations and then to create better overall consumer experiences where people are having faster, cleaner, easier or more engaging opportunities than they’ve ever had before.” n
